Hundreds arrested in UK as police brace for more violence

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00:00Well, the situation has indeed calmed down.

00:04What's going to happen either later today or over the weekend, let alone in the coming

00:08days, is not clear, of course, and will transpire.

00:12But violent anti-immigration riots during the past week in England and Northern Ireland

00:18have resulted now in 700 arrests.

00:22So that figure, which went from about 400 to 500, has now gone steeply up.

00:28So arrests are continuing already, as police forces around, of course, these riots have

00:33been across England and in Belfast and Northern Ireland.

00:38I understand that some 200 people have been charged.

00:42But British police, to answer your question, are on high alert this weekend because there

00:47are concerns over more disorder breaking out, and police are very much braced for potential

00:53violence.

00:55So in Newcastle, for example, we've got, on the one hand, far-right protesters who've

00:59been gathering, but a much smaller crowd than we've seen previously, I understand up to

01:04about 100 gathered for the, quote, enough is enough protest in Newcastle.

01:09Some were waving Union Jack and England flags.

01:12At least, I understand, three far-right protesters have been detained by police in Newcastle.

01:18One, I understand, had a hammer in his possession, which was confiscated by officers before he

01:23was then placed in handcuffs, and police are searching every person who tries to join either

01:28the far-right protesters or also counter-protesters now, and they're obviously trying to keep

01:35those two groups separate.

01:37So the anti-racism protests are also planned across the country, as we've seen largely

01:43over the last few days.

01:45And as we begin to see those first counter-protests, I understand at least one person has been

01:51arrested in Newcastle for snatching a microphone from another counter-protester.

01:56So we will watch over the coming hours.

01:59One of the big concerns and the reason for clear police presence is the fact that there

02:04are Premier League football matches that are starting again today.

02:09Now, as you mentioned, arrests have been made, jail sentences have been delivered related

02:14to the riots.

02:17But there's a lot of tension, as you mentioned.

02:19Is the government taking firm action quickly enough?

02:22Well, certainly, the police are on high alert, and that is because the Prime Minister Keir

02:29Starmer, I don't know if you remember, actually, he's the former Director of Public Prosecution.

02:37Indeed, he was.

02:39He had that role back in 2011 when there were protests of a different nature back then.

02:44But what the Prime Minister is saying himself, and it seems that the police agree with this,

02:49what we've seen on the one hand is already 200 people charged, more and more people going

02:54through the courts, with what Keir Starmer has underlined as swift justice, rather than

03:00waiting a number of weeks, months or more.

03:04What is happening is that people that were protesting and were arrested, committing various

03:09or charged with various offences, are going through courts already.

03:13So within days of these charges, them being charged, and some are getting two years, two

03:20and a half years, three years, and they're not being given bail.

03:24They're being remanded in custody immediately.

03:27And that, it would seem, and certainly the Prime Minister believes and others believe,

03:30this is acting as a big deterrent.

03:33Interestingly, we've had the French President Emmanuel Macron speaking to Keir Starmer on

03:38the phone, and amongst the subjects, the French President expressed, of course, his

03:42condolences for the victims of that fatal knife attack that killed three young girls

03:46and injured others.

03:47And Mr Macron also firmly condemned the violence and disorder that followed this attack and

03:52gave his full support to the UKPM in this context.

03:57So we'll watch, we'll wait, and we'll see what happens next.

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